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4 October 2018

Speech by Goda Neverauskaite Steering Committee Member and Working Group 5

Coordinator of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum delivered at the Eastern
Partnership Senior Official Meeting

On behalf of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, I would
like to share with you today civil society’s observations on the developments in the Eastern
Partnership region and information on our own assessment of 20 deliverables for 2020.

The Eastern Partnership policy has led to good results in the areas of economic development,
trade and market opportunities, as well as in connectivity, energy efficiency, environment and
people-to-people contacts.

However, the developments of the past few years have shown that none of the EaP countries
have developed sustainable democratic institutions. The preliminary results of the Eastern
Partnership Index, soon to be published by the Civil Society Forum, reveal some modest
developments in the protection of human rights, but backtrackings on the important areas of
media and judicial independence, public administration and in the fight against corruption.
Overall, the pace of reforms remains slow and their sustainability fragile.

The Eastern Partnership policy should be strengthened to tackle the challenges posed by state
capture, corruption and disinformation. To achieve this, we need a more ambitious approach
and a stronger partnership between EU institutions and civil society.

Civic society played a crucial role in the revolution in Armenia, opened the door to the hope
that the Armenian reform process can be a model of peaceful reform for other EaP countries.

Now, the new Armenian government has to tackle complex changes, while dealing with
institutions and policies inherited from the past. The EU should support the efforts of the
Armenian government and review with new Armenian officials the CEPA implementation
roadmap prepared by the previous regime.

Seeing no improvement in the relationship with the EU after Armenia took important steps
towards a more democratic system, might send confusing signals to other EaP countries, who
would have fewer incentives to follow the same path. As we saw, and unlike Armenia, Moldova
is losing ground in the democratic race.

Secretariat of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

Rue de l'Industrie 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)2 893 2585; email: info@eap-csf.eu
www.eap-csf.eu
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We welcome the prompt reaction of EU institutions and member states to the worsening
situation in Moldova and the decision to suspend EU financial support until the upcoming
elections in January 2019. While this is a positive step, the EU should think of a new and more
complex approach towards backsliding countries, as financial consequences are not a big
enough carrot or a stick to improve the situation in Moldova in the short-term.

Overall, we notice how the EaP has become slightly more technical in nature, turning into a
policy conducted mainly by the European Commission. Civil society would like to call upon
EU member states to be more present, and to use their political weight to ensure the security of
EU borders and the stability of their neighbours. We are therefore concerned by the current
trend driven by some EU member states, who are advocating for neutrality as a preferred
conceptual solution for the EaP region. Neutrality has not worked for Moldova and we warn
against this approach.

It is with these considerations in mind that I share with you our concern about the future of EU
financial assistance to Eastern Partnership countries.

The proposal to combine the current 12 EU external action instruments under one roof – the
Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – sends a
strong signal to the EaP partner countries and societies that they are not a special category of
partners who are helping to secure EU’s vital interests.

Moreover, as currently framed, the NDICI does not contain any reference to existing civil
society support programmes and does not assigns any explicit role to civil society in the annual
assessment.

We advise against establishing this single instrument and we recommend:

 First, to take financial support to the EU neighbourhood out of the NDICI regulation
and re-establish the European Neighbourhood Instrument on the basis of the existing
ENI regulation. This would ensure continuity and prevent the risk of downgrading the
EaP policy concept, which is likely to carry negative effects on the stability and
resilience of the region.
 Second, to enhance further the ENI 2.0 and to sustain the current system of ENI
governance. The ENI budget line was increased in the draft MFF proposal for 2021-
2027 to 22 billion Euros, 24% more comparing to the current MFF. The final allocations
are subject to the EU member states deliberations on the MFF package but such an
increase would underline the political importance of the EU neighbourhood and could
effectively support the ambitious agenda the EU has in this region.

Secretariat of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

Rue de l'Industrie 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)2 893 2585; email: info@eap-csf.eu
www.eap-csf.eu
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We urge you to reflect on these concerns, and most importantly on the consequences of the new
regulation, on which we have prepared a detailed position paper.

To conclude, the upcoming Foreign Ministerial Meeting will be an excellent occasion to discuss
these concerns as well as the state-of-play of the implementation of the 20 Deliverables for
2020. As we stressed on several occasions, the deliverables are a step forward in terms of
providing a set of concrete results to be achieved by the EaP Summit and 2020. Our Ukrainian
National Platform has conducted a comprehensive assessment on their implementation, and we
are currently holding a consultation with our members, the results of which will be presented
at the meeting.

Thank you for your attention.

Secretariat of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

Rue de l'Industrie 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)2 893 2585; email: info@eap-csf.eu
www.eap-csf.eu